September 05, 2016

Our Weekend | 002

As a way of capturing more of the every day, I'm going to start chronicling how we spend our weekends - they may not be the most exciting posts, as we are very much a homey family, but they'll be posts I'll happily look back on.

SATURDAY

We woke up on Saturday morning to rain, as predicted, which was fine and dandy with us as we were planning mostly a home day. However, we realised we actually needed to head out to town as Nathan needed some new clothing bits for work as one of his tops had very recently got a hole in it. So after getting ourselves dressed, breakfasted, and ready, we set out to brave the downpour of rain and headed to town on the bus.

By the time we arrived the rain was only worse, but that didn't dampen our spirits and we headed to our destinations. Whilst out we needed to pick up a card and headed on into Card Factory - normally Card Factory is madness for the small space and sheer number of customers, not today however, the shop was quiet itself but the stock was madness. The 3rd of September and they were stocking Christmas cards, yes, Christmas cards! What?!?!?! I feel like this is getting earlier and earlier every year... We aren't even technically out of summer yet!

We continued on with our shopping and hopped back on the bus home about an hour or so after arriving. I was rather happy with a couple of the purchases I made, including a pair of Disney PJ's from Asda - I can't resist cute PJ's, especially Disney ones! We were drowned rats by the time we made it home but we had a very successful shopping trip.

Lunch was in order after the outing and I opted for some hot and hearty soup to warm me up after the treacherous weather. Alexander watched a couple of Thomas episodes whilst we ate lunch - he loves a particular DVD at the moment called Splish, Splash, Splosh; he is often rather disappointed that I don't allow him to watch it the 4 or 5 times a day he asks to.

As is the case with most weekends some of my family were due over early afternoon; not wanting to get deep in to an activity before their arrival we opted to pull out a board game and play Ker-plunk. Alexander has really gotten in to games such as these of late, however he does think the object of the game is to get the most balls, not the least! We managed three games before my mum, her partner, and my brother arrived.

After an hour or so of family time, it was time to head to the kitchen and cook some dinner. On the menu was spaghetti and meatballs, something Nathan has been asking me to make again since the last time I made it. The meal went down a treat and even Alexander did pretty well with eating his spaghetti, something that can usually turn in to quite a messy affair.

There was some general play time after dinner, with hot wheels cars being the main source of entertainment. After a while I sat down for an hour to catch up on some blog bits and bobs whilst daddy and Alexander had a mini song and dance party. Alexander loves music and is always asking people to sing and dance - once you get started on one song, it's a spiral and an hour later your back to the first!

With some winding down time had, daddy got Alexander ready for bed and he was all tucked in safe and sound a little after the 7 o'clock mark. Having got the bug for games earlier on in the day with Ker-plunk, Nathan and I spent a good portion of our evening playing another board game - The Logo Board Game.

Calling it a night, clad in my new cosy Disney PJ's (they were extra cosy as they had just been washed and tumble dried), I read a little more of my book before hitting the hay.

SUNDAY
Sunday was a scattering of waking up times, with Nathan and I rising at 7.30 whilst Alexander had a little extra sleep not waking until 8am. There was a slow start to the morning, and with the weather much the same as the previous day another home day was in order. After breakfast Alexander and Nathan did some reading together, and whilst they did that I snuck in a little blog time (this is how I get most of my blogging done - sneaking it in here and there). After they'd finished reading we all headed upstairs; I had a mountain of washing to fold and the two of them chose to lark about in various pursuits. I know some people really dislike folding laundry, but it's actually one of my favourite household chores; I love organising and sorting things.

By this time we had decided that the next order of business was to watch a movie, and what is a movie without movie treats, right?! So we headed to the local corner shop and picked up some goodies - yum yum! So at 11am we sat down to watch Zootropolis - we've had the film a good few weeks now but had yet to get round to watching it. Over an hour and half later we all came away from the film very happy... Alexander loved the animals, Nathan and I enjoyed the plot, and there was a good mixture of action and comedy etc. Highly recommend Zootropolis if you have yet to see it.

Lunch was had soon there after followed by venturing back upstairs to get some bits and pieces in Alexander's room sorted. Early next year he will be moving from a toddler bed to a single, and so I've slowly been working on weeding things out of his room as well as putting a plan in place to maximise space in what is effectively a box room - I wanted to get Nathan's opinion on some of the toys that could maybe be donated. With Alexander's birthday coming up in November and also Christmas in December, he could do with getting rid of a few lesser played with toys. We decided on a few and they are now bagged up ready to be donated at a later date.

We wiled away a good hour or so in the afternoon having a bit of a reading session. All relaxed in our room, a short Roald Dahl book (Esio Trot) was read out loud and enjoyed by the three of us. It was a really nice family moment, and one of those memories that could very easily have been forgotten had I not logged it here.

Dinner time soon rolled around and I made us a simple chicken, veg and roasties dinner. Alexander was rather hyper after his dinner, and he often has what I refer to as a 'mad hour' after dinner because he is just all the over show, non stop chat, moving, moving, moving, and then it dies down after a while. I wonder if anyone else's children experience that. During that time we blew some bubbles together, which lasted well over half an hour, and Alexander also had a run around the house. At very nearly six o'clock our weekly grocery delivery was ordered - being non drivers, it is such a convenience being able to order the food shop online and have it delivered to the door.

Alexander's evening ended more abruptly than usual due to some cheeky behaviour; he had a bath and was sent to bed a little bit earlier than usual. Tut tut. A relaxing evening was in order after that and so I spent some time colouring, which really helps me to de-stress, and also watched an episode of Once Upon A Time with Nathan - a show we very recently started. Then just as Alexander had before us, it was time get sorted and end the day with a head on pillow.